What the Grieve Amendment means and how MPs voted on it

During discussions on the timetable motion for the five-day debate on the Brexit deal yesterday, the Government suffered a defeat when an amendment tabled by anti-Brexit former Attorney General Dominic Grieve was passed by 321 to 299 – a majority of 22.

The Grieve amendment will allow future Commons motions after a Government defeat on its deal to be amendable, which its supporters say will enhance Parliament’s role in the Brexit process and give MPs more of a say over what happens next. Rather than merely noting what the Government says, Grieve said MPs should be able to make amendments to any motion laid down by the Government in order to try and influence events.

What was interesting about the voting on the Grieve amendment was that 25 Tory MPs rebelled against the Government to vote for it, including some who are usually hyper-loyal to the Government like Damian Green, Sir Michael Fallon and Sir Nicholas Soames. The word circulating around Parliament last night was that the Government Whips’ Office had given licence to the rebels – even encouraged them to vote the way they did – in order to put the frighteners on Brexiteers opposed to May’s deal: the logic being that it demonstrated that the numbers are there to oppose a no-deal Brexit, which means that opposing May’s deal heightens the possibility of no Brexit at all. Certainly there are Remainers holding out hope that the passing of this amendment is a means by which they will be able to fatally scupper Brexit altogether.

Two former Government whips I put this to last night agreed that such tactics were eminently plausible. However, Brexiteers continue to point out that any motions amended under the Grieve procedure would not be legally binding or change the law of the land. After all, the exit date of 29th March 2019 is set in stone – written into the European Union (Withdrawal) Act in black and white – and it would require new primary legislation to overturn that rather than a mere motion expressing a point of view. As David Davis’s former Chief of Staff Stewart Jackson wrotehere on BrexitCentral recently, Parliament cannot simply block ‘No Deal’ as it is the default option. This position was also reiterated in terms by the Leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.

The position was also stated very clearly by Sir David Natzler, the Clerk of the House of Commons, in evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee on 23rd October when he said “a mere resolution cannot change the law. The only way we can change the law is by law”.

He was then asked by the Committee Chair, Sir Bernard Jenkin: “Is there any motion that the House can bring forward and approve that could compel the Government to legislate in some way? I am thinking in particular of section 24 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act, which would require a Minister of the Crown to lay a regulation to delay the date. Is there any way in which a Humble Address could compel a Minister to do that?” Sir David’s replied: “No.”

HOW MPs VOTED ON THE AMENDMENT

320 MPs are recorded as voting for the amendment (322 if you include the two tellers), including 25 Conservative rebels, 239 Labour MPs, 34 SNP MPs and 12 Lib Dem MPs, along with MPs from Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and 5 Independents (one of whom also voted in the other lobby). The result was announced as 321 MPs voting for it, which suggests the tellers miscounted by one.

Meanwhile, 299 MPs voted against the amendment (301 including two tellers), including 282 Conservatives, 4 Labour rebels, 9 DUP MPs and 4 Independents (one of whom also voted in the other lobby).

Aside from the Speaker and his three deputies, who by convention do not vote – and the 7 Sinn Fein MPs who have not taken their seats – 17 MPs did not participate in the division.

N.B. Independent MP Kelvin Hopkins is listed as having voted in each lobby – effectively a deliberate abstention where his votes cancel each other out.

Below are the full lists of which MPs voted for the amendment, those who did not vote at all (although NB it is impossible to know whether they deliberately abstained, were away from Westminster on parliamentary business elsewhere or were ill etc.) and of course the full list of those who voted against the amendment.

THE 322 MPs RECORDED AS BACKING THE AMENDMENT

Conservative

Heidi Allen

Guto Bebb

Richard Benyon

Nick Boles

Kenneth Clarke

Jonathan Djanogly

Michael Fallon

George Freeman

Richard Graham

Damian Green

Justine Greening

Dominic Grieve

Oliver Heald

Jo Johnson

Phillip Lee

Jeremy Lefroy

Oliver Letwin

Nicky Morgan

Bob Neill

Antoinette Sandbach

Nicholas Soames

Anna Soubry

John Stevenson

Edward Vaizey

Sarah Wollaston

Green

Caroline Lucas

Independent

Sylvia Hermon

Kelvin Hopkins (voted in both lobbies)

Ivan Lewis

Jared O’Mara

John Woodcock

Labour

Diane Abbott

Debbie Abrahams

Rushanara Ali

Rosena Allin-Khan

Mike Amesbury

Tonia Antoniazzi

Jonathan Ashworth

Ian Austin

Adrian Bailey

Kevin Barron

Margaret Beckett

Hilary Benn

Luciana Berger

Clive Betts

Roberta Blackman-Woods

Paul Blomfield

Tracy Brabin

Ben Bradshaw

Kevin Brennan

Lyn Brown

Nick Brown

Chris Bryant

Karen Buck

Richard Burden

Richard Burgon

Dawn Butler

Liam Byrne

Ruth Cadbury

Alan Campbell

Dan Carden

Sarah Champion

Jenny Chapman

Bambos Charalambous

Ann Clwyd

Vernon Coaker

Ann Coffey

Julie Cooper

Rosie Cooper

Yvette Cooper

Jeremy Corbyn

Neil Coyle

David Crausby

Mary Creagh

Stella Creasy

Jon Cruddas

John Cryer

Judith Cummings

Alex Cunningham

Jim Cunningham

Janet Daby

Nic Dakin

Wayne David

Geraint Davies

Marsha De Cordova

Gloria de Piero

Thangam Debbonaire

Emma Dent Coad

Tan Dhesi

Annaliese Dodds

Stephen Doughty (Teller)

Peter Dowd

David Drew

Jack Dromey

Rosie Duffield

Angela Eagle

Maria Eagle

Clive Efford

Julie Elliott

Louise Ellman

Chris Elmore

Bill Esterson

Christopher Evans

Paul Farrelly

Jim Fitzpatrick

Colleen Fletcher

Caroline Flint

Yvonne Fovargue

Vicky Foxcroft

James Frith

Gill Furniss

Hugh Gaffney

Mike Gapes

Barry Gardiner

Ruth George

Preet Gill

Mary Glindon

Roger Godsiff

Helen Goodman

Kate Green

Lilian Greenwood

Margaret Greenwood

Nia Griffith

John Grogan

Andrew Gwynne

Louise Haigh

Fabian Hamilton

David Hanson

Emma Hardy

Harriet Harman

Carolyn Harris

Helen Hayes

Sue Hayman

John Healey

Mark Hendrick

Stephen Hepburn

Mike Hill

Meg Hillier

Margaret Hodge

Sharon Hodgson

Kate Hollern

George Howarth

Rupa Huq

Imran Hussain

Dan Jarvis

Diana Johnson

Darren Jones

Gerald Jones

Graham Jones

Helen Jones

Kevan Jones

Sarah Jones

Susan Elan Jones

Michael Kane

Barbara Keeley

Elizabeth Kendall

Afzal Khan

Gerard Killen

Stephen Kinnock

Peter Kyle

Lesley Laird

David Lammy

Ian Lavery

Karen Lee

Christopher Leslie

Emma Lewell-Buck

Clive Lewis

Tony Lloyd

Rebecca Long-Bailey

Ian Lucas

Justin Madders

Shabana Mahmood

Seema Malhotra

John Mann

Gordon Marsden

Sandy Martin

Rachael Maskell

Chris Matheson

Steve McCabe

Kerry McCarthy

Siobhain McDonagh

Andy McDonald

John McDonnell

Pat McFadden

Conor McGinn

Alison McGovern

Liz McInnes

Catherine McKinnell

Jim McMahon

Anna McMorrin

Ian Mearns

Ed Miliband

Jessica Morden

Stephen Morgan

Grahame Morris

Ian Murray

Lisa Nandy

Alex Norris

Fiona Onasanya

Melanie Onn

Chi Onwurah

Kate Osamor

Albert Owen

Stephanie Peacock

Teresa Pearce

Matthew Pennycook

Toby Perkins

Jess Phillips

Bridget Phillipson (Teller)

Jo Platt

Luke Pollard

Stephen Pound

Lucy Powell

Yasmin Qureshi

Faisal Rashid

Angela Rayner

Steve Reed

Christina Rees

Ellie Reeves

Rachel Reeves

Emma Reynolds

Jonathan Reynolds

Marie Rimmer

Matt Rodda

Danielle Rowley

Chris Ruane

Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Joan Ryan

Naz Shah

Virendra Sharma

Barry Sheerman

Paula Sherriff

Gavin Shuker

Tulip Siddiq

Andy Slaughter

Ruth Smeeth

Angela Smith

Eleanor Smith

Jeff Smith

Nick Smith

Owen Smith

Karin Smyth

Gareth Snell

Alex Sobel

Keir Starmer

Jo Stevens

Wes Streeting

Paul Sweeney

Mark Tami

Gareth Thomas

Nick Thomas-Symonds

Emily Thornberry

Stephen Timms

Jon Trickett

Anna Turley

Karl Turner

Stephen Twigg

Liz Twist

Chuka Umunna

Keith Vaz

Valerie Vaz

Thelma Walker

Tom Watson

Catherine West

Matt Western

Alan Whitehead

Martin Whitfield

Paul Williams

Chris Williamson

Phil Wilson

Mohammad Yasin

Daniel Zeichner

Liberal Democrat

Tom Brake

Vince Cable

Alistair Carmichael

Ed Davey

Tim Farron

Wera Hobhouse

Christine Jardine

Norman Lamb

Stephen Lloyd

Layla Moran

Jamie Stone

Jo Swinson

Plaid Cymru

Jonathan Edwards

Ben Lake

Liz Saville Roberts

Hywel Williams

SNP

Hannah Bardell

Mhairi Black

Ian Blackford

Kirsty Blackman

Deidre Brock

Alan Brown

Lisa Cameron

Doug Chapman

Joanna Cherry

Ronnie Cowan

Angela Crawley

Martyn Day

Martin Docherty-Hughes

Marion Fellows

Stephen Gethins

Patricia Gibson

Patrick Grady

Peter Grant

Drew Hendry

Stewart Hosie

Chris Law

David Linden

Angus MacNeil

Stewart McDonald

Stuart McDonald

John McNally

Carol Monaghan

Gavin Newlands

Brendan O’Hara

Tommy Sheppard

Chris Stephens

Alison Thewliss

Philippa Whitford

Pete Wishart

THE 17 MPs WHO DID NOT VOTE ON THE AMENDMENT*

Conservative

Stephen Crabb

Stephen McPartland

Andrew Mitchell

Priti Patel

Andrew Stephenson

DUP

Jeffrey Donaldson

Labour

Paul Flynn

Holly Lynch

Khalid Mahmood

Madeleine Moon

Laura Pidcock

Geoffrey Robinson

Cat Smith

Laura Smith

John Spellar

Derek Twigg

SNP

Neil Gray

*Not including the Speaker, John Bercow, and his three deputies (Lindsay Hoyle, Eleanor Laing and Rosie Winterton) who, by convention, do not vote in Commons divisions and the Sinn Fein MPs who have not taken their seats. NB: Absence from the division may be for a number of reasons, such as being ill, on maternity leave or on parliamentary business elsewhere, as well as a deliberate abstention.